SLA needs undermine Jaffna public transport

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 July 2000, 21:10 GMT]
Public transport in the Sri Lanka army held parts of Jaffna is in dire straits due to a shortage of buses, a government official said Friday.
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Vadamaradchi fishermen to protest against SLA restrictions

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 July 2000, 17:35 GMT]
The Federation of Fishermen's societies in the Vadamaradchi division of Jaffna wrote to the Sri Lanka army's 52-4 brigade in Pt.Pedro Thursday that more than two thousand fishermen who have been adversely affected by restrictions imposed on fishing in the region after April this year are contemplating a peaceful protest to demand the lifting of the harsh regulations.
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PTA seen promoting arbitrary charges

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 July 2000, 17:33 GMT]
A Tamil youth against whom Sri Lanka's Attorney General had filed six cases for killing scores of Sri Lanka army soldiers in 1992 in the Batticaloa district and for massacring Sinhala civlians in a village in the Polannaruwa district was released by the Batticaloa high court Wednesday.
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'Autonomy package' - Much ado about nothing

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 July 2000, 20:48 GMT]
"If Prabhaharan had not pulled out of talks with the UNP government in 1990 and with the PA in 1995, he too would have been doing this futile political jig in Colombo, going from pillar to post like us in search of the political solution" said the leader of an ex-Tamil militant group reacting to Sri Lanka's main opposition party's decision announced Tuesday that it will not support the constitutional reform package in Parliament.
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35,000 attend Tamil Internet conference

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 July 2000, 10:47 GMT]
Tamil Internet 2000 (TI2000), the largest conference and exhibition on the use of Tamil on the Internet held in Singapore from July 22-24 attracted almost 35,000 attendees, far exceeding the target of 20,000, the organizers said this week.
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SLA takes action on Tamilnet report

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 July 2000, 17:16 GMT]
The Military Police of the Sri Lankan Army arrested a corporal attached to the camp at Kalkudah, 34 kilometers north of Batticaloa, following a report by Tamilnet that he (the corporal) was forcing civilians in that village to work on the construction of a bulwark. Tamilnet reported that several civilians in Kalkudah had been beaten up by the SLA for not going to work on the bulwark round the Kalkudah army camp last week.
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SLAF jet crashes in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 July 2000, 09:59 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Air Force jet crashed during a training mission at Katunayaka air base, south of Colombo around 2 p.m. Sunday.
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Four civilians killed in air raid - radio

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 July 2000, 21:02 GMT]
Four civilians were killed and two others, including a nine year old school boy were wounded in an air raid by Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) jets at Chundikulam in the north-east of the island around 10.40 a.m. Saturday, the Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio said in its news broadcast this evening.
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UNP leader walks out of talks with govt.

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 July 2000, 10:37 GMT]
The leader of the Sri Lanka's main opposition party Mr.Ranil Wickremesinghe walked out of talks between his party and the government on constitutional changes aimed at resolving the island's ethnic conflict Friday evening in protest against allegations in the state media that he has links with the Liberation Tigers. Mr.Wickremesinghe told the government delegation led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga Bandaranaike that he will not take part in talks on the proposed constitutional changes until his name is cleared by the authorities, according to a spokesman of the United National Party.
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Numbers game bodes ill for package

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 July 2000, 23:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge told the Tamil parties she met Friday for discussions on constitutional reforms aimed at resolving the ethnic conflict in the island that she will try to persuade the main opposition party, the United National Party (UNP), to consider their demands. If the UNP's response is not positive she would try to arrange a tripartite meeting between the government, the Tamil parties and the UNP to further discuss the points of disagreement the President told Tamil politicians who met her Friday afternoon.
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Students protest SLA killing

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 July 2000, 19:33 GMT]
Schoolchildren in Jaffna have been boycotting their classes since Monday, following the killing of Sathasivam Sanjeevan, a student of the Jaffna Hindu College by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers last week. The students are demanding that the Sri Lankan troops should give them assurance that they would not be put at risk from the soldiers' actions.
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Ponnambalam case officer "partial"

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 July 2000, 16:29 GMT]
Lawyers representing the family of slain All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) leader, Mr.Kumar Ponnambalam has requested the Attorney General to replace the police officer conducting the investigations into the killing with one who would be "impartial", legal sources in Colombo said.
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Foremost place to Buddhism guaranteed -SL govt

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 July 2000, 20:48 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Government Wednesday said that there is no truth in newspaper reports that Buddhism has no place in its proposed new constitution. Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka MP, Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs said that the government's proposals for constitutional change do not alter the "foremost place" given to Buddhism in Sri Lanka's constitution. Tamil political parties say that Article 9 of Sri Lanka's constitution that guarantees Buddhism the foremost place is a major obstacle in drawing up even a "minimally acceptable" scheme for regional autonomy.
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Unidentified men abduct youth

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 July 2000, 17:39 GMT]
Unidentified men in a white van abducted a Tamil youth at Old Moor Street in Colombo's business suburb of Pettah, Monday night around 8.30 said sources. The youth is a native of Nainatheevu, an island off Jaffna town.
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Claymore blast wounds SLA officer

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 July 2000, 11:08 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Major and seven soldiers were critically wounded in a claymore mine attack by the Liberation Tigers at Serunuwara in the Mutur area, south-west of Trincomalee, around 12.45 p.m. Tuesday, security sources said.
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Thalaimannar SLN officer under investigation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 July 2000, 11:07 GMT]
An officer of the Sri Lanka Navy base in Thalaimannar, 337 kilometers from Colombo, on the northwestern coast of the island, accused of helping persons in Mannar to take commodities such as cement and spare parts for vehicles to the Vanni region controlled by the Liberation Tigers. The officer was taken in for questioning on information provided by a person arrested by the Navy for transporting these banned commodities by sea, Police investigators in Mannar said.
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Student boycott classes over shooting

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 July 2000, 21:56 GMT]
Students in Jaffna boycotted classes on Monday to protest against the killing of Sanjeevan Somasunderam, a student of the Jaffna Hindu College by the Sri Lanka Army soldiers on Thursday, 13 July.
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Two youths killed in SLA ambush

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 July 2000, 07:01 GMT]
Two youths who were returning from a temple festival were shot dead by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers near Valaichenai, north of Batticaloa, around 10.30 p.m. Sunday, villagers said.
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SLA coerces Kalkudah civilians to build bulwark

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 July 2000, 11:51 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army in Kalkudah, 32 kilometers north of Batticaloa, is engaging civilians of this coastal village in forced labour residents said Sunday. Males in the village have been forced to work by soldiers at the construction of a sand bulwark ahead of the northern and western defences of the Kalkudah SLA base. A mason in the village who had refused to work for the army on Friday was severely beaten up by soldiers from the camp.
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Jaffna school boy shot dead

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 July 2000, 21:53 GMT]
Somasundaram Sanjeevan, a student studying in General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level) at Jaffna Hindu College was shot dead by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on Thursday, 13 July, He was returning home after playing soccer at the school ground when he was shot, the sources said.
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